Tag Archives: DOMA

ABC News reports: A bipartisan group of House members and senators introduced a bill, the Respect for Marriage Act on Monday, which would enshrine marriage equality for the purposes of federal law and provide additional legal protections for marriage equality. “The Supreme Court’s extremist and precedent-ignoring decision in Dobbs v. Jackson has shown us why it is critical to ensure …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: A 6-3 victory at the Supreme Court vindicating a constitutional right is usually cause for congratulations, but not these days at Kirkland & Ellis, the giant white-shoe law firm. The firm has rewarded partner Paul Clement for his triumph Thursday in the big New York gun-rights case by telling him to drop his …

Just in from the Democratic National Committee: On the 3rd anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the 5th anniversary of U.S. v. Windsor, and the 15th anniversary of Lawrence v. Texas, DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement: “Before the Supreme Court handed down its decision in U.S. v. Windsor five years ago, Edie Windsor said, ‘I think justice will …

Via press release: Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today proclaimed June 20 Edie Windsor Day in New York State as a tribute to her legacy championing equality and justice for the LGBTQ community, and for being on the front lines of the fight for marriage equality. Today would have been Edie’s 89th birthday. “Edie was an iconic New Yorker who shaped …

Posted tonight to President Obama’s Facebook page: America’s long journey towards equality has been guided by countless small acts of persistence, and fueled by the stubborn willingness of quiet heroes to speak out for what’s right. Few were as small in stature as Edie Windsor – and few made as big a difference to America. I had the privilege to …

From the ACLU: Today, we lost one of this country’s great civil rights pioneers, Edie Windsor. The wheels of progress turn forward because of people like Edie who are willing to stand up in the face of injustice. One simply cannot write the history of the gay rights movement without reserving immense credit and gratitude for Edie Windsor. We were …

The New York Times reports: Edith Windsor, the gay-rights activist whose landmark Supreme Court case struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013 and granted same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time and rights to myriad federal benefits, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 88. Her wife, Judith Kasen-Windsor, confirmed the death but did not specify …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: A new bill led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the U.S. Senate would make gay couples potentially eligible for a refund on their back taxes if they married more than three years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. The legislation, called the Refund Equality Act, …

PBS reports: State legalization of same-sex marriage appears to be linked to a decrease in adolescent suicide, based on a new analysis published today in JAMA Pediatrics. The results give more context to the potential effects of social policy on mental health. The researchers found that suicide attempts by high school students decreased by 7 percent in states after they …

NBC News reports: Edie Windsor, the 87-year-old LGBTQ activist whose lawsuit against the federal government helped paved the way for same-sex marriage nationwide, has gotten remarried. Windsor and Judith Kasen, 51, tied the knot on Monday at City Hall in New York, the New York Times reported on Saturday. “I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this joy and …

All hail Roberta Kaplan! From the Washington Post: U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves late Thursday night issued an injunction blocking a bill by the Mississippi legislature that would have allowed private citizens and some public officials professing a “sincere religious belief” to deny services to gays and lesbians. Just minutes before House Bill 1523 was to take effect at …

Via press release: U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced a resolution to designate June 26, as “LGBT Equality Day,” honoring the anniversary of three significant victories won at the U.S. Supreme Court for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. “America should celebrate the progress we have made to pass on to the next generation …

Today is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 83rd birthday and progressives are flooding Twitter with well wishes. The Huffington Post has published a compilation of RBG’s most famous quotes. Here’s one for us: “In recent years, people have said, ‘This is the way I am.’ And others looked around, and we discovered it’s our next-door neighbor — we’re very …

Marco Rubio has recruited some anti-LGBT activists to create an advisory board on how to repeal same-sex marriage. Topping the list of recruits is crackpot Heritage Foundation hater Ryan T. Anderson. Via press release from the Rubio campaign: This morning, the Marco Rubio for President campaign is excited to announce the formation of Marco Rubio’s Marriage & Family Advisory Board. …

L to the O to the L. Miranda Blue reports: In an interview with the Catholic news network EWTN broadcast on Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said that, if elected, he would ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling in U.S. v. Windsor and enforce the parts of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that the court found unconstitutional. Santorum …

The Washington Post has reluctantly awarded Hillary Clinton its “four Pinocchios” Fact Checker rating for her claims about DOMA. After a lengthy look back into the history of DOMA, they conclude: This is a difficult claim to fact-check, because Clinton essentially explained what she believed her husband was thinking when he supported DOMA. Clearly, The Fact Checker has no insight …

Last night Bernie Sanders was interviewed by Rachel Maddow about the continuing DOMA flap and his own history on LGBT rights. Lucas Grindley recaps at The Advocate: In Monday’s interview, Sanders explained why it’s important to get the history right, saying, “We live in a tough world and leadership counts.” As one of only 67 people in the House to …

“Whatever the context that led to the passage of DOMA nearly two decades ago, Hillary Clinton believes the law was discriminatory and both she and President Clinton urged that it be overturned. As President, Hillary Clinton will continue to fight to secure full and equal rights for LGBT Americans who, despite all our progress, can still get married on a …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Sen. Bernard Sanders isn’t the only one taking Hillary Clinton to task over her recent assertion that the Defense of Marriage Act was a “defensive” measure to prevent worse discrimination against LGBT people. A number of gay rights activists took to Twitter to say Clinton engaged in historic revisionism during her appearance Friday …

On Thursday, Hillary Clinton told Rachel Maddow that her husband’s signing of the DOMA bill was a “defensive action” meant to ward off a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Bernie Sanders isn’t having it. Via The Hill: “To my mind, I think the evidence is very, very clear that that legislation was anti-gay legislation, it was playing off the fears …